-Cruiser-IF-Sizzlerz

Imam Siddique
tells TUSHA MITTAL how the first
of the people trapped inside the Taj were brought out.When security officials
wouldn't comply with his requests, Imam Siddique hijacked a local ambulance
to rescue survivors from Taj. Later, at an NDTV show, he lashed out at
Simi Garewal for rightwing comments. Since then, he has received a number
of death threats. His story.

I live in Colaba,
a stone's throw from Nariman House. On the night that it all started,
I was sitting in my fourth foor terrace flat. I heard what sounded like
firecrackers. Much of the low-middle class population that lives in this
area has religious festivals frequently. We hear crackers and processions
everyday, so I dismissed those first gunshots as everyday sounds. But
suddenly, I heard a loud explosion and a thousand voices in unision. I
heard snippets like ye mar gaya. Then I looked down from my balcony and
the street below looked like Beirut or Lebanon. There were dead bodies
all over and people screaming.

I rushed downstairs
to help and saw the first grenade outside Nariman House. Interestingly,
the locals allowed us to believe that the Israelis living inside Nariman
house were responsible for the explosions. The mob was furious, ready
to lynch the Israelis they thought were responsible. I saw the mob go
inside the house and bring two members out and throw them into a taxi.
We don't know where the taxi went and what happened to the two of
them.

By then, I wasn't
feeling safe in this crowd, especially being a minority. Soon, I heard
that something that happened at the Leopod caf too. I know the
owner well and am emotionally attached to the space. I rushed there to
see if I can do anything to help.

The lady who owns
the property said the police have taken charge here, but that something
may have happened at the Taj and I should go there to help. I walked down
the same lane through which I now know the terrorists had gone.

I saw a French couple
who looked really distraught. I approached them as a citizen trying to
help. The man shunned me away, but the lady confided in me and said that
their daughter was stuck in Taj on the fourth floor. The entire area was
barricaded and I stood near the Gateway of India. I spoke to the police
through wireless vans and told them that a young teenager called Latisha
is stuck gave them her room number. I then resigned to my spot and watched
the madness unfurl. Grenades were being thrown from all sides. One moment
I would hear gunshots from the right wing corner, and in the next moment
I would see the left side go up in flames.

Suddenly, I identified
a room on the six floor where I could see three silhouettes near the window.
Their body language indicated that they were celebrating – high-fiving.

I told the snipers, but at the time they had not been given the clearances
to shoot. Others saw these men too, and in retrospect, if the snipers
had not been so bureaucratic and aimed at this room, the operation could
have been over much earlier. Although they were in the position to do
something, they chose to be spectators at that point. I decided that I
will put my ass on the line and do what I need to do.

Soon we heard another
big explosion followed by massive fire. We were asked to move behind the
gateway, since were in the line of fire.

But even from this
further point, I was able to see that someone on the third floor had tied
all the linen in his room and was hanging it out as an escape route. When
he actually tried to escape, he slipped and fell almost to his death.
We could hear this scream all the way to the Gateway. Watching this, knowing
he lay right there, I was really agitated. I wanted to go rescue this
person, but nobody came to my assistance. The snipers, NSG, and security
personnel around were also not doing anything. They were just made to
wait. There was nothing anyone could do. I went up to some of the Tops
Security (private company) ambulances waiting nearby and tried to convince
them to help me. They wouldn't agree. I finally had to threaten
them that they will lose their jobs if they don't let me take the
van. (I happened to know the owner of the company, Divang Rahul Nanda).
I finally hijacked the ambulance with two other Tops Security employees,
and we drove all the way, risking our lives, to where the yellow Mumbai
police barricade behind which this man had fallen.

Both his hands were
broken and we could see the marrow was coming out of the bone. It was
one of the most grotesque things I have ever seen. He wouldn't let
us take him to the hospital until we rescued his girlfriend Kelly who
was still in the room. But I sent him off in the van to the hospital.
His name is William Pike, from Britain.

As I looked up to
see if I can spot his girlfriend, I noticed a younger girl in a room on
the fourth floor. "Are you Latisha," I screamed to her. Turns
out, she was the daughter of the French couple I met on my way here.

I went back and called
the fire brigade to the site to rescue Kelly and Latisha. They tried the
manual ladder first; it didn't work. The fire brigade tried manual
ladder which didn't work. They finally using the snorkel hydraulic
pipe and we were able to rescue both of them.As soon as I walked out
with Latisha and Kelly, it became a media circus. Everybody wanted to
take a picture of the first survivors rescued from Taj. I also want to
say hats off to the fire brigade. They had only to 2 bullet proof vests
and yet in they went in for the operation.

I have worked for
the last 25 years in various advertising agencies, but I have never been
proud of anything I have done in my life. Looking back now, I am very
proud of what I did on that day. It is very reassuring that I had the
presence of mind to react in this situation. I was only thinking of what
I would expect from others who were watching as mere spectators, had I
been in that room.

I want to share this
traumatic experience with others. There is a tendency to banish such things
form one's consciousness, but I want this dialogue to continue.
If there stories are not told to people, we will not be better equipped
emotionally and socially to deal with this if, god forbid, it happens
again.

For me, the Mumbai assault
has meant the loss of loved ones, but it also become the start of a new
relationship with his own self. I had been a victim of the Bombay riots
and had since lived with a fear of large gatherings, of mob fury. I witnessed
first hand what happens in a riot. I was scared of being in a group of
more than 20. But now I have overcome my fear. This has created a healing
process within me.

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